Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray gets the ‘banging’ result he predicted against Crawley

John Lomas

Mansfield Town delivered the ‘banging’ that boss Adam Murray had threatened they were on the verge of with today’s 4-0 demolition of 10-men Crawley Town at One Call Stadium.

After three successive home draws, Murray felt someone was going to feel the full might of his new-look side soon and it came in style this afternoon as Nathan Thomas, Mitch Rose, Matt Green and Craig Westcarr all found the net.

Crawley had Gwion Edwards sent off for his challenge on Nicky Hunt on 50 minutes, but Mansfield were already in full control at 2-0 by then.

Murray said: “Yes, that was the banging, though don’t get me wrong – they are a very good team who will be in and around it this season. They are very efficient at what they do.

“I am not shocked or surprised at the score. It’s nothing I didn’t expect from them as I know them well as a group.

“I work with them every day and I have said all along that when we get it right we’ll be a good team.

“It’s no shock. As staff we work hard and the recruitment process in the summer was hard work to get these players in.

“It’s another step on our journey and another building block for us.”

Murray admitted in midweek he had been quote defensive-minded so far and knew he needed to let his players off the lease a little more today.

He said: “We probably took a step quicker than I expected today in our process and some of the performances today were superb.

“I understand what football’s like and everyone cries out for eight strikers on a pitch. But I am the one who works with these players every day and I knew where they are at.

“We want to do things at the right time and the important thing this season with so many new faces was to make us hard to beat. We need to be solid and stern in what we do as that’s the platform for everything.

“Our flair players and our attacking players have had to take that on board, knowing their job on the other side of the game. We have an ethos here that it’s about us – there is no me.

“Now when we get our attacking players doing the other side we will be a good side, and we saw flashes of that today. There is still a long way to go to where we want to get to, but overall that was a good performance today.

“We played on the front foot a bit more and got Westy closer to Greeny as well as playing with more of an out and out winger.”

He added: “We came out and played on the front foot today, and that was epitomised by Matt Green. Getting his goal today was superb as he fully deserved it. And some of the performances were excellent – Matt Green, Nathan Thomas, Chris Clements – who was again off this planet – Adam Chapman, all round the pitch we were superb.

“It was probably up there in spells as one of the best performances since I took over.

“I have said to the players enjoy your weekend. When you get home fully appreciate how good you have been today as individuals and as a team. Shout it from the rooftops because this game changes quickly.”

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